Mophie’s Helium case doubles the battery capacity of the iPhone 5

Announced on the official Mophie site earlier today, the mobile accessories company has developed a new case for the iPhone 5 that significantly increases battery life while still sporting a thin form factor. Adding an additional 1500 mAh battery capacity to the iPhone 5 1440 mAh internal battery capacity, the Mophie Juice Pack Helium will increase total battery life by approximately eighty percent. In terms of practical use, this translates into an additional six hours of talk time, six to seven hours of Internet surfing, thirty hours of music playback or seven hours of watching video content.

When combining the two batteries, this means an iPhone 5 user could hypothetically watch an entire 23-episode season of a television drama like Person of Interest or a couple seasons of a half-hour sitcom like Modern Family without having to stop and recharge the smartphone as well as the Mophie case.

Similar to other Mophie case designs, the case and phone can be recharged using a micro-USB cable and the current battery level of the case can be checked by looking at the LED indicator. If all four LED lights are shining at once, that means the battery within the case is fully charged. In addition, Mophie has included a toggle switch to turn on the case in order to start recharging the iPhone 5 battery.

According to the product page, the lithium polymer battery can be recharged from 0% to 100% at least 500 times. Mophie recommends waiting until the iPhone 5 battery has fallen to approximately 20 percent before initiating a recharge using the Juice Pack Helium. Specifically, the iPhone 5 requires more power to charge the device beyond the 80 percent mark. By choosing to charge the battery up to the 80 percent point, users can extend the charging capability of the Mophie case. Currently pricing both cases at approximately $80, Mophie plans to ship the dark metallic version on Valentine’s Day and the silver metallic version during March 2013.